


We'll Always Have Pittsburgh

by godofwine



Category: Queer as Folk (US), Stargate Atlantis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-24
Updated: 2010-12-24
Packaged: 2017-10-14 01:55:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/144069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/godofwine/pseuds/godofwine





	We'll Always Have Pittsburgh

*

Despite the lucrative job at the SGC, Rodney rarely sees the benefits. For example, he's saved more than enough for that relaxing and well deserved cruise through the Bahamas (ok, maybe not the Bahamas because have you seen his complexion and probably not a cruise either since he does live on a _floating_ city, but still, somewhere warm and relaxing and not at all life-threatening would be nice). Instead, he's toughing the streets of Pittsburgh, and even if Carnegie Mellon's comp-sci grads are worthy of recruitment, it doesn't mean that _he_ has to do it personally.

Last time he was here, he almost didn't mind the lack of palm-frond-waving, bikini-wearing Caribbean girls at his beck and call because at least he had John to complain to. "What I'm willing to put up with to save the galaxy," he had said because it was snowing on his so-called vacation.

"You're such a giver," John had said and blew him for his troubles.

Except now, he was here alone, half-way drunk and going for full in a dingy old bar and spilling his guts to some two-bit stronger who, while totally hot, also looked like he spent more time on his hair than getting his college degree. (And despite the obvious counter-example of one John Sheppard who somehow managed to pull out a Masters -and when did they let military grunts into Cal Tech anyway?- it didn't mean that his whole judgment system was flawed.)

But it wasn't _Rodney's_ fault that John Sheppard could not be allowed near his person because, as he was explaining, "Then he had the nerve to try to justify it with some lame story about how she told him he was 'the one' and how she her waited her whole life for him. I mean, who even falls for that line anymore?"

The guy took another shot and said, "Does she play the violin?"

"Um no, I don't think she knows what a violin is actually, and how is that relevant again?"

The guy shrugged. "I'm just saying, it could be worse."

Clearly, there were issues there, but Rodney's not a psychiatrist and he's here for his _own_ emotional trauma. If he's not careful, the conversation's going to end up with both of them sobbing into each other's arms and lamenting the one that got away.

"Well anyway," Rodney continued quickly, "I told him 'You can go be "the one" all you want, but I'll be over here _saving the galaxy and not to mention your life_."

The guy looked up. "You know I'm a superhero."

Rodney blinked for a second and checked yes, eyes dilated, slightly perspiring in a woefully inadequately heated bar (and they were in Pittsburgh for God's sake, would it kill them to get some proper insulation?), and the most telling fact, he was on Liberty Avenue, queer central, which means that the guy was no doubt stoned, wasted, tripping or whatever youth-driven slang equivalent of _high_ was nowadays. Rodney's had enough experience with drugs lately (and wasn't _that_ just saying something about his life) to know that hallucinations does not necessarily mean impeding over-dose related death, and anyways, he's too drunk to care or, more importantly, be held legally responsible.

He took another swig and continued, "Yeah, good for you. So _anyway_ , he, John that is, he says, 'But I didn't think I'd be able to get out again, Rod-...er, Radek." Because of course, even mostly drunk, Rodney knew better than to let some out-of-his-mind junkie know his _real_ name, and it wasn't like Zelenka was likely to be touring Pittsburgh any time soon.

The guy finished the rest of his beer, and considering what else was in his system, Rodney wondered if maybe a call to the emergency room won't be just the perfect way to cap this day.

The guy sighed and said, "Right, let's do this then."

"Huh?" Rodney said back.

"I said yes, ok, fine. Come on, we'll go to my place, but it'll have to be quick, I'm getting too -oh god, I can't believe I'm saying this and Emmett better never find out, I'm getting too...old for this crap."

It took a minute to sink in but gay bar plus going to his place equaled casual sex on any planet (except maybe P3X-749 where apparently flirting's fair game but stick a toe past first-base and suddenly you're thrown in jail for breaking religious taboos).

Rodney was pretty sure that the guy was very hot, but there's John and consequences.

"Well?" the guy said, already on his way to the door.

"I'm thinking!"

"Are you _kidding_?" the guy said back, some mixture of incredulous and angry. "You're not seriously stopping to consider this are you? _Look at me._ "

"Hey Mister Confidence, I may be on a break here but right now, I have the moral high ground, which, despite the drinking and running away, is still very mature-"

The guy was moving and woah, suddenly there was teeth and tongue and hands that know _exactly_ where to go. When the guy pulled back, he looked as collected and steady as if he hadn't been kissing strangers and drinking crappy American beer all night. "The name's Brian," he said.

Rodney's been kissed like this twice before: one gave him mono and the other gave him John Sheppard, and he wasn't sure at all where this will end.

"Ok, I'm coming," he said.

The guy smiled, and Rodney shivered. "Not yet, I hope, but you will be."

*


End file.
